The coconut tree and the people of Kerala

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The coconut tree and the people of Kerala

There is this coconut tree somewhere in the dense mythical realm of Kerala – every Malayali knows it exists, but no one has seen it, no one knows where it actually is. Every Malayali speaks about it, every Malayali knows the man who climbs it, every Malayali also knows that the man springs up the tree for the flimsiest of reasons, but no Malayali can recall the story behind it.

For the sake of each Malayali on Earth, the man clambers up the tree and stays there, sometimes frequently, sometimes rarely, and for every single Malayali he has stayed atop the tree at least once.

If you are a Malayali, you know by now that the name of the coconut-tree-climber is Sankaran, and that his job is to climb up the tree whenever a Malayali finds himself or herself back to square one.

One of these days I will cut down that darn coconut tree.

By |2018-12-10T11:16:57+00:00August 30th, 2012|As I see it, Thoughts|14 Comments

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14 Comments

  1. Anonymous August 30, 2012 at 9:07 am - Reply

    funny interesting …even though i am unaware of the context would sure like to know more about the mythical sankaran…lol

  2. roopz August 30, 2012 at 9:41 am - Reply

    Hehehe…Nice!

    Regards
    village girl

  3. Himangshu August 30, 2012 at 2:23 pm - Reply

    Hmmm…..some of ur posts have a common theme…But why so?? I hope u r doing well….

    Pls read thru my write-up and comment if u like…..Himangshu

    http://himangshu-gentlemusings.blogspot.in/2012/08/melbourne-inception-of-dream.html

  4. Jean August 30, 2012 at 2:26 pm - Reply

    You're right, Himangshu, there is a common theme, sometimes it breaks in even when I try to stifle it lol…
    I will surely read your blog and post my thoughts on it.
    Thanks!

  5. Jean August 30, 2012 at 2:30 pm - Reply

    Sorry, Sunil, I couldn't find more info for you about the Malayalam saying even in Google. ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Swapna Raghu Sanand August 30, 2012 at 3:17 pm - Reply

    Absolutely loved reading this post, and you've nailed it! ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Jean August 30, 2012 at 4:52 pm - Reply

    ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks, Swapna.

  8. Shantaram August 31, 2012 at 4:42 am - Reply

    ROFL…. This will be the defining test of a Mallu!

  9. Antony August 31, 2012 at 2:09 pm - Reply

    My son of 19 years, a student of IIT-M 'writes' wonderful letters to me, though very seldom. Of late he wants to start a blog but says he is in jitters with a "writer's block". I intend to send your blog on Shankaran to him, and hope to get him going.

  10. Jean August 31, 2012 at 2:43 pm - Reply

    By all means, please do. ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks!

  11. Himangshu September 4, 2012 at 6:18 pm - Reply

    Hey jeena….just curious to know….u were working on a manuscript, rite? what happened? Some months back, i started something though not sure where it is headed…..Any advice for newbies like me???

  12. Elizabeth September 5, 2012 at 8:55 am - Reply

    Hahaha… This blog post will be only understood by a pure Malayali…I am sure of that ๐Ÿ˜€

  13. mooshi February 10, 2013 at 9:21 pm - Reply

    Hey! Shankarante valla thumbum kittiyou? Google achaayan muttu madakki

  14. Jean February 11, 2013 at 4:57 am - Reply

    Illa… ๐Ÿ™‚

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